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The Funk Brothers, Motown’s in-house studio band from about 1959 to 1972, played on more than 100 R&B No. 1 singles and over 50 pop No. 1 hits, yet stayed unknown to the public. About 13 core players formed the backbone, including Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke on keys, Benny Benjamin and Richard Pistol Allen on drums, Jack Ashford on vibes and tambourine, guitarists Robert White, Eddie Willis and Joe Messina, and James Jamerson, whose melodic, syncopated lines changed what a pop bassist did. They worked in the Snake Pit, a cramped basement with cables hanging from the ceiling.

Benny Benjamin gave the band its name walking up the basement stairs, but Berry Gordy disliked the word funk and billed instrumental releases as Earl Van Dyke and the Soul Brothers. Paid union scale with no royalties or sleeve credits, the players moonlighted for rival labels. When Gordy fined musicians for playing on Edwin Starr’s Agent 00 Soul for Ed Wingate’s Ric-Tic Records, Wingate showed up at the Motown Christmas party and handed each one double the fine in cash. Gordy responded by buying Ric-Tic outright.

• The band was racially integrated, with white players including Joe Messina, Dennis Coffey and Bob Babbitt.
• Their moonlighting produced Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher and the Capitols’ Cool Jerk.
• Marvin Gaye forced the first printed credits for the band on What’s Going On in 1971.
• When Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, many players learned of it from a notice taped to the studio door.
• Allan Slutsky’s work led to the 2002 film Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a 2004 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2013 Walk of Fame star.